Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is in full swing, with several teams including England and hosts Argentina already booking their spots in the expanded tournament.
The 2026 World Cup will be held from June 11th to July 19th in three host countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
48 countries will participate, 16 more than Qatar in 2022, making it the largest scale to date.
The three host countries will automatically qualify, while the federation members UEFA (Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), CONCACAF (North/Central America and the Caribbean), AFC (Asia), OFC (Oceania) and CAF (Africa) will conduct their own qualifying campaigns.
UEFA is guaranteed 16 spots in this competition. The 12 group winners will advance directly from the qualification stage, while 16 teams (12 second place in the group and a further four based on the Nations League rankings) will participate in four play-off passes, each earning a further spot in the finals.
Outside of Europe, CAF has nine World Cup spots and AFC has eight. There will be a minimum of six slots each from CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, with OFC guaranteed one slot for the first time.
The final two spots will be filled in an inter-federation playoff. The six-team tournament will be held in March 2026. One team from each federation, excluding UEFA, plus one additional team from the host country’s federation.
Track who made it to the featured tournament below.
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Who qualified for the 2026 World Cup?
UEFA
As you already know, England won all eight qualifying matches and booked their ticket to the top of Group K.
The 12 group winners will each secure a spot, with the remaining four spots to be determined by a play-off between the 12 pool runners-up and the top four UEFA Nations League section winners.
In Group C, Scotland will face Denmark in a winner-take-all showdown, while Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will qualify for the play-offs. Wales need a win against North Macedonia to finish Group J in second place.
Craig Bellamy’s side could earn automatic qualification, but will need bottom-placed Liechtenstein, who have no points from seven games, to beat Belgium.
France defeated Ukraine 4-0 in the penultimate qualifying match, becoming the second team from Europe to advance and securing a place in the final. They were followed by Croatia, who defeated the Faroe Islands.
Portugal also defeated Armenia 9-1, clinching first place in Group F.
Norway defeated Italy 4-1 to finish first in Group I and qualify for their first major tournament since 1998. Italy will qualify for the playoffs.
Four-time champions Germany defeated Slovakia 6-0 at home in their final Group A match to book their place in next summer’s tournament.
The Netherlands also needed a final-day spot to secure a place in the 2026 World Cup, as they beat three-time runners-up Lithuania 4-0 at home to take first place in Group G.
Spain and Belgium are currently on course for automatic qualification and will aim to finish top of their group on Tuesday.
Conmebol
World champions Argentina were the first South American team to qualify with a guaranteed top-six finish in March, finishing first in the 10-team CONMEBOL group, nine points behind second-placed Ecuador.
The top six teams, including Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay, earned automatic qualification, with Bolivia defeating Brazil 1-0 in the final qualifying round to finish in seventh place and qualify for the playoffs.
Venezuela, Chile and Peru will not qualify, but Bolivia will play in a six-team playoff, including two teams from CONCACAF and one each from AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL and OFC.
cafe
Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia all achieved automatic qualification after finishing first in their respective groups.
The top four runners-up, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Nigeria, will play off each other next month, with two semi-finals followed by a final for the final spot.
Cape Verde, with a population of 525,000, topped Group D ahead of Cameroon, becoming the second smallest country after Iceland to qualify for the World Cup finals.
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Cape Verde fans and players celebrate their first World Cup qualification with a 3-0 win over Eswatini
A.F.C.
Japan became the first team to earn automatic qualification with a win over Bahrain in March, and were later joined by Australia, Iran, Jordan, South Korea and Uzbekistan.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia subsequently secured their spots by making it through the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers.
Iraq and the United Arab Emirates will battle for the final spot in the fifth round next month.
Concuff
With hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States all securing their spots, the CONCACAF region will be able to field up to eight teams at the World Cup for the first time.
Suriname, Jamaica and Honduras currently lead their respective groups in the third and final stage, but with two games remaining in each of the three four-team groups, there is plenty of room to compete.
The winners of each pool automatically qualify, and the top two runners-up will advance to next month’s six-team playoffs.
OFC
New Zealand defeated New Caledonia 3-0 in the preliminary final in March to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 2010.
New Caledonia will represent Oceania in the playoffs and could potentially join the All Whites in next summer’s tournament.
When is the 2026 World Cup draw?
US President Donald Trump and FIFA Director General Gianni Infantino hold the World Cup trophy in the Oval Office of the White House.
The 2026 World Cup draw will be held on December 5th in Washington.
President Trump will join FIFA President Gianni Infantino to determine group stage brackets at the John F. Kennedy Center, the performing arts venue where Trump is chairman.
When announcing the lottery venue at the White House in August, President Trump said the World Cup was “the biggest event in sports,” while Infantino declared the 104 games would be like “the 104th Super Bowl.”
The draw will take place from 12pm local time (5pm UK time).
2026 World Cup Match Schedule
The full match list, including group games and kick-off times, will be available after the draw, but FIFA has already announced the key dates and confirmed that the opening match will be held in Mexico City.
The final game will be held at New York/New Jersey (MetLife) Stadium, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets.
Group Stage: June 11th-27th
Round of 32: June 28th to July 3rd
Round 16: July 4-7
Quarterfinals: July 9th-11th
Semi-finals: July 14th-15th
3rd place match (“Bronze Final”): July 18th
Last day: July 19th
